The Pursuit of Excellence: The Uncommon Behaviors of the World's Most Productive Achievers

CONCLUSION

On April 23, 1910, in Paris, President Theodore Roosevelt gave what would become one of the most quoted speeches of all time. Originally titled “Citizen in a Republic,” the speech would later be known as “The Man in the Arena.” “It is not the critic who counts,” said Roosevelt, “not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself ...